Otto Lasch

Otto Lasch (25 June 1893-29 April 1971) was a General der Infanterie of Nazi Germany during World War II.

Biography
Otto Lasch was born on 25 June 1893 in Pless, Silesia, German Empire (Pszczyna, Poland), the son of the master forester of the Prince of Pless. He served in a Kuelm battalion of jaegers during World War I, and he joined the police following the end of the war in 1918 and then joining the Wehrmacht in 1935. Lasch rose to the rank of General der Infanterie of the Wehrmacht, and he became the commandant of Koenigsberg in November 1944. He had only badly-crippled divisions to defend the city from the Red Army, and his men fought for every inch of ground against the Soviet Union during the Battle of Koenigsberg in early 1945. On 9 April 1945, he surrendered to the Soviets, leading to Adolf Hitler condemning his family to death. They were freed in May 1945 upon Germany's surrender, and Lasch was imprisoned at the Vorkuta labor camp until October 1955. He died in Bonn, West Germany in 1971.